Daniel’s Three Friends When Babylon conquers Judah, Daniel and his three friends—Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—are seized. They’re deported to Babylon. Their names may be unfamiliar to you. That’s because this trio is better known by the names given to them by their captors: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We read of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego only […]
A Good King Asa is the king of Judah. He’s the son of Abijah, the son of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, the son of David. This means Asa is King David’s great-great-grandson. He reigns for forty-one years. Scripture says he does what is right in God’s eyes. And he remains fully committed to the […]
King Solomon’s Son Follows Foolish Advice After King Solomon dies, his son Rehoboam succeeds him as king. Jeroboam opposes him. Jeroboam, one of Solomon’s officials, had received a prophetic word that he would become king over ten of the tribes of Israel, with Solomon’s descendants ruling over the tribe of Judah. Jeroboam, along with all […]
Wise Advice from an Obscure Source We commonly think of King Solomon as the author of the book of Proverbs. While this is mostly true, it’s not completely correct. Proverbs also contains wisdom from Agur (as well as Lemuel, whom we’ll cover later). Agur is the son of Jakeh. Neither man, however, appears anywhere else […]
Seeing to Believe The queen of Sheba hears about the stunning reputation of King Solomon. She’s skeptical and travels to meet him. The queen wants to see if there is any truth to the reports she’s heard. Presenting him with gifts, she talks with Solomon at length. The king answers her every question, able to […]
A Loyal Priest Zadok (1) and Abiathar serve David as priests. The two work together in support of him. During Absalom’s coup attempt, they both side with David. The pair covertly work to send information about Absalom’s short-lived reign back to David’s camp through their sons. This is not the case, however, when Adonijah tries […]
The Next King? David’s first four sons are Amnon, Kileab, Absalom, and Adonijah (1). Each one has a different mother, making them all half-brothers. Absalom kills Amnon for raping their sister Tamar. Then Absalom dies in a coup attempt. The Bible only mentions Kileab once, so he likely does nothing noteworthy nor notorious. As a […]
In Service to the King Abishag is a young, beautiful Shunammite woman. She’s carefully selected to attend to King David in his old age. Despite her sleeping next to him to keep him warm, their relationship isn’t sexual—though I’m sure people thought otherwise. When the king dies, we might assume her ordeal is over. But […]
A Priest with Shifting Loyalties When Doeg the Edomite, under the order of King Saul, kills Ahimelek and eighty-five other priests, only Ahimelek’s son Abiathar escapes. Abiathar flees to David, who offers him sanctuary. Abiathar takes the ephod with him. This likely refers to the ephod Moses made for the priests to wear (Exodus 28). […]
The Genealogy of Jesus Today’s Passage: Matthew 1:1–17 Focus Verse: This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1) We’ve already talked about how John, Mark, and Luke open their biographies of Jesus. Now we’ll look at Matthew’s approach. Though it may seem strange to us […]